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Tricolor executives charged with ‘systematic fraud’ after subprime auto lender roiled banking sector
CNBC ^ | December 17, 2025 | Yun Li

Posted on 12/17/2025 6:37:33 AM PST by Miami Rebel

U.S. prosecutors charged top executives of bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings with what they described as a years-long, “systematic fraud” scheme that sent shockwaves through the banking sector earlier this year.

In an indictment unsealed in Manhattan, prosecutors allege that from at least 2018 through September 2025, founder and CEO Daniel Chu and chief operating officer David Goodgame orchestrated a series of fraudulent schemes that let Tricolor obtain billions of dollars from lenders and investors by misrepresenting the value of its loan collateral.

Tricolor sold used cars to customers with limited or poor credit in the south and southwest, and told the court they had more than $1 billion in assets at the time of it declared bankruptcy in September.

Tricolor executives repeatedly pledged the same auto loans to multiple lenders at the same time, or “double-pledged” assets to banks, and manipulated loan data so that delinquent or charged-off loans appeared eligible for financing, the indictment said.

Banks including JPMorgan and Jefferies Financial Group had lent hundreds of millions of dollars to Tricolor and auto parts maker First Brands by the time they failed, both in the same month, fueling concern on Wall Street that stresses in the private credit and leveraged lending markets might spread.

Jefferies and some regional banks briefly tumbled in mid-October on growing fears that more bad loans were lurking around the corner. One day, Utah’s Zions Bancorporation dropped more than 13%, Arizona’s Western Alliance Bancorp fell more than 10% and the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) lost more than 6%.

The same month, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the bankruptcies at Tricolor and First Brands were signs that corporate lending practices had grown too lax over the past decade.

“When you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” Dimon said in a conference call. “Everyone should be forewarned on this one.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: aliens; automotive; finance; fraud; loans; subprime; tricolor
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1 posted on 12/17/2025 6:37:33 AM PST by Miami Rebel
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To: Miami Rebel

A reminder: Tricolor’s main customer base is Hispanics. Part of their lending model of few or not background requirements meant: illegals.


2 posted on 12/17/2025 6:42:08 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Tell It Right

I guess the collaterized loans obligations (CDO) that brought down the mortgage loan markets in 2008 are alive in the auto loan area today. Gee someone owes double on what a car is worth and has no job. What could go wrong. Fortunately I don’t think these loans have a government guaranteed, YET.


3 posted on 12/17/2025 6:56:52 AM PST by Mouton (There is a new sheriff and deputy in town now!)
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To: Miami Rebel

At Eastern Motors, your job is your credit.


4 posted on 12/17/2025 6:58:21 AM PST by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: Miami Rebel

Giving illegals subprime car loans, what could possibly go wrong. This seams to be another demonicrat money laundry.


5 posted on 12/17/2025 7:46:25 AM PST by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
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To: Tell It Right

A lot of those financed cars and trucks are now in Mexico.


6 posted on 12/17/2025 8:07:34 AM PST by CFW
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To: All

CEO thief Daniel Chu.

7 posted on 12/17/2025 8:10:59 AM PST by Liz ("Socialism is a wonderful idea. It's just that it's been disastrous" Thomas Sowell. )
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To: Miami Rebel

Mr. Chu should be punished like they do for such offenses in his native China: death by hanging.


8 posted on 12/17/2025 10:08:44 AM PST by montag813
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To: Miami Rebel
chief operating officer David Goodgame orchestrated a series of fraudulent schemes that let Tricolor obtain billions of dollars from lenders and investors by misrepresenting the value of its loan collateral

You can't make this stuff up.

9 posted on 12/17/2025 10:17:46 AM PST by aposiopetic
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To: montag813

i think they mostly just shoot ‘em with a shot to the back of the head: SO much cheaper than the rigmarole for hanging ...


10 posted on 12/17/2025 11:14:58 AM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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